Twitterin' table ferns

File this one under internet oversharing: Botanicalls, a wireless device for houseplants that Tweets based on soil moisture levels.

Tomorrow will mark the end of my special series of Wednesday lawn and garden posts (I’ll be touching down on the subject on an irregular basis, of course) so I want to get as much hot hort-action in as possible.

From the world of (pardon my internet shorthand French) WTF, comes a device for greenthumbed, Twittering technophiles called Botanicalls. Basically, it’s a build-it-yourself moisture-monitoring gadget with a circuit board that sends wireless signals to Twitter when it senses that the soil of your prized jade is parched or waterlogged. Huh?

The Botanicalls project is fundamentally about communication between plants and people. We are empowering both by inventing new avenues of interaction. Plants that might otherwise be neglected are given the ability to call and text message people to request assistance. People who are unsure of their ability to effectively care for growing things are given visual and aural clues using common human methods of communication.

I can deal with cats having Facebook accounts, but I draw the line at Twittering houseplants. Although definitely not for me (the assembly guide nearly made my head explode) I have to say it's a pretty ingenious idea.